A cry fills the air.

Instantly, my pain and moans are forgotten about. All that matters is that little cry. The first cry and I fell in love for the second time.

My tears fall on automatic and my hand goes limp in Alex's, stopping the torturous grip I previously had on his hand.

"Oak..." Alex whispers.

I don't glance at him. My entire focus is on the wiggling and crying baby in the midwifes hands. "I know."

"Does mummy want the first hold of baby girl?" The middle aged woman asks, smiling while she cleans her.

"Baby girl..." I whisper adoringly.

I swallow and look at Alex, asking him if it's okay. His smile and sweet kiss on the lips reassures me. "You pushed her out of you baby. I think you have first rights."

A mixture of a strangled sob and a breathless chuckle escapes me and I hold my hands out for my baby girl. As soon as her warm body is in my arms I fall in love all over again.

"Oak we have a daughter." Alex whispers, resting his chin on my head while we both gaze at the new addition to our family.

My daughter. Our daughter.

"I know." I sniff, glancing at him quickly and he wipes my cheeks, pecking my lips again and again, smothering my entire face with kisses and repeating the phrase 'I love you'. "Are we still naming her what we said we would if we were to have a girl?"

He stares at our daughter for a moment, mouthing the name we picked out and then nods. "Yea. I like it."

"Same."

Our little Aurora Sophie Marie King, her two middle names named after her grandmothers.

"Hi Aurora." I coo, stroking her chubby cheek. Her eyes open and her cries lessen. Her eyes, the exact replica of her dad's and a thin layer of dark brown hair covering her tiny head. "Alex... she's gorgeous."

"She's definitely your daughter then." He whispers, replacing my finger and stroking her cheek. Little Aurora's fingers curl around her dad's pointer finger. "Oak! Look!"

My vision blurs with tears. "She knows her daddy."

It's silent as we stare at our baby. I didn't realise I had so much love in me and I definitely didn't realise that my life had this in store for it.

Love was a strange concept and I didn't really love anyone for so long, only Loki. I cared so deeply for Morgan but I didn't realise I loved her for a long time. There was no hope with me for romantic love, I truly thought I'd be alone for the rest of my life.

It's all thanks to Alex. It's thanks to Alex that I found someone to spend the rest of my life with and I found someone to create a life with. I found someone to create and expand my family with.

And it was the same for him.

We were alone before; I was a solitudinarian and he was a workaholic. We slowly pulled each other out of our lonely lives, bringing our two separate lives of the hermit and the CEO together to live in our own version of solitude.

But truly, I think it's all thanks to Loki and Zeus for befriending each other so quickly and forcing us together. They were the cause of our love.

We have a daughter. Our precious little miracle.

"Are you sure she's mine?" His question breaks the silence, motioning down to her light skin.

I glare at Alex and his teasing grin, my eyes softening when I look back down to my baby. "They'll bring her birth certificate soon and I won't let you sign it."

His quiet laugh filled the air until the midwife broke it. "It could take up to a few weeks for her natural skin tone to even out." I smile at her and she comes closer, gently gracing the tops of Aurora's ears. "It's to do with circulation. You can see at the top of her ears, they're darker than the rest of her body so that will give you an indication of what her natural skin tone will be."

"See." I send a playful glare at the giant beside me.

He shrugs, fighting his smile. "I don't know... you were pretty close to that cashier at the supermarket you used to go to. You talked to him every Friday for eight years."

He knows I only said two words to him every time I went there and to this day I still don't know what he looks like.

Rolling my eyes, I cup Aurora closer to me and free my left hand to slap him lightly. "Do you want to hold your step daughter?"

He glares but the chuckle that escapes him shows me he finds it funny. I carefully hand her over, watching as his eyes widen and soften, filling with tears as he stares from his daughter to me.

"I thought you said crying was for wimps and that you weren't going to do it again." I smile teasingly at my husband.

"I'm not crying."

I hum knowingly. "Yea you said that after the accident, at the alter, at our wedding reception, when I told you I was pregnant, when the baby kicked for the first time, when I had my first contraction, when my waters broke and when I started giving birth."

"I liked you better when your anxiety was crippling and you didn't answer back."

Laughing, I scoot on the bed, allowing Alex's large frame to sit next to me. He places Aurora in my arms once again, wrapping the both of us up in his arms. I'm against his chest and Aurora is against mine.

Our family.

For the next few hours we hold our daughter and I feed her for the first time, a weird and slightly anxious experience but I'm sure I'll get used to it, especially if it means helping my daughter. I'd do anything to make sure she's okay and happy.

It's strange. My daughter has only been in the world for a few hours and I already know I would lay down my life a thousand times if it meant she was safe. A mother's love. Nothing is stronger than a mothers love.

And now, lying here with my newborn daughter against my chest, I feel a hell of a lot closer to my own mother. I now understand how much she loved me, I now understand that she did in fact risk her life to try and protect me from that monster and I now understand how much it pained her to realise when she was dying what she was leaving me with.

I will always love my mum. I hope to become at least half the woman she was and I hope to become at least half the mum she was.

The door opens and a familiar blonde pops her head in, surveying the room until her eyes find the bundle of joy in my arms, they soften and widen and she opens the door wider to let herself in. Alex messaged everyone a little while ago to tell them we had a girl, explaining why our visitors -Morgan, Michael and Jada- are all carrying pink 'it's a girl' balloons and bouquets of flowers.

"Is this my niece?" Morgan comes by the side of the bed, dropping the weighed balloon on the floor and placing the flowers on the bedside table, peering in to the blankets to see Aurora's little face. "She's beautiful."

"She's your niece and goddaughter... if you'll have her?"

Her gaze snaps to Alex, her lips parting. "You want me as godmother?"

We both nod, smiling. "We-I would love for you to be godmother."

It shocks me when her eyes start to glass over and she starts sniffing. "Alex...." It shocks me even more when she rounds the bed and embraces him in a hug.

"Please don't kick me!"

A slap follows.

"I'm not going to kick you." She pulls away, wiping her eyes. "Thank you Alex and Oak. She will be the most spoilt goddaughter in history."

I, of course, wanted Morgan to be godmother but it was actually Alex who brought the topic up. Since we both lost our mother's at a tender age we both decided that if anything were to happen to us, we would want Morgan to look after our children, knowing she would take them in in a heartbeat.

"What's my granddaughters name?" Michael asks smiling.

Alex and I share a look and I take lead. "Aurora Sophie Marie King."

All three of the visitors eyes soften, nodding at her name, knowing we named her middle names after both our deceased and loving parents.

"That's beautiful." Jada whispers, walking over to see our little beauty.

Jada takes her off me, walking over to Michael so he can have a better look of her.

I felt bad that Aiden couldn't be here but he was looking after his children and our dogs, not wanting his kids in a hospital and not wanting our dogs to be alone for a long period of time.

I was excited for the dogs to meet the baby, knowing how protective they all were of me during pregnancy I knew they would protect little Aurora with their lives.

"You did so good baby." Alex whispers, his lips grazing my ear as the rest of our family fuss over Aurora. "I'm so proud of you."

Glancing up, we share a soft kiss. "Alex, we're parents."

His chest rumbled as he chuckles, stroking my hair, not caring at all that I'm covered in dry sweat. "I know. Thank you Oaklee... for making me the happiest man in the world by allowing me back in your life, for becoming my wife and for giving me a daughter."

"I think we're both grateful for without the other we'd still be in an unknowing rut, thinking and believing we were happy when we weren't."

He nods, kissing my forehead and then my lips again, sharing a short but passionate kiss that left me breathless. "I love you, our dogs and our beautiful baby girl."

And I love them. With all my heart.